Climate Dynamics

Climate has been and will be an integral part of the dynamic earth system. Today, rapid climate change represents perhaps the single most important problem humanity has ever faced. The climate dynamics discipline in the Jackson School of Geosciences addresses dynamical, physical, statistical and computational issues on time scales from seasons to centuries that are needed to quantify the behavior of the coupled system of atmosphere, oceans and earth surface, including biosphere and cryosphere (snow, sea ice and ice sheets). Major areas of research include mathematical modeling of land surface processes and their role in controlling weather and climate; analytical techniques to assess uncertainties in model predictions and proxy reconstructions of climate; understanding the processes that control climate variability, changes and extremes, especially related to ocean-atmosphere and land-atmosphere interactions and droughts; and influences of climate and vegetation (biogenic emissions) on air quality.

The Jackson School also has nationally leading programs in computational geosciences, paleo-climate records, models of the dynamic processes of the cryosphere and lithosphere; planetary sciences, modern satellite, airborne, and in situ measurements of these components of the Earth system; and the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, one of the world's largest research groups testing the science of sequestration, also known as carbon capture and storage. On campus, members of the climate dynamics discipline work with the Texas Advanced Computing Center, Center for Space Research, the Cockrell School of Engineering, and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, in part through the Center for Integrated Earth System Science and the Environmental Science Institute.

The program has strong collaboration with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the United Kingdom Met Office and Texas A&M University.

Our faculty and researchers include elected members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the American Meteorological Society (AMS), and the former President of AGU and the President-elect of the Global Environmental Change Focus Group of the AGU. They also serve as co-Chairs of Community Earth System Model Working groups, National Research Council Special committees, Editorial Board and journal editors.

This program provides students with a strong background in core dynamical issues but encourage them to participate in interdisciplinary investigations across a wide range of climate issues addressed by Jackson School scientists, as well as satellite remote sensing, "big data" analysis and visualization, climate-air quality and climate-water resource problems.

Faculty & Research Scientists

	Todd Caldwell Dr. Caldwell is a hydrologist and geoscientist specializing in field investigations and numerical modeling associated with near-surface vadose zone hydrology, landscape evolution, and soil moisture/ET. His current research focuses on ecohydrology, soil moisture modeling and monitoring, restoration and characterization of disturbed lands, the characterization and scaling of soils and hydraulic parameters, near-surface geophysics, and parameter optimization and numerical methods.
	Ginny Catania Ice sheet mass balance, ice dynamics, subglacial hydrology, ice sheet stratigraphy, radar, GPS methods, uncertainty in ice sheet response to climate.
	Kerry H Cook Climate dynamics, atmospheric dynamics, global climate change, paleoclimate, climate and weather of Africa and South America, climate system modeling, climate change in Texas
	Robert E Dickinson Climate, Global Warming, Land Surface Processes, Remote Sensing, Hydrological Cycle, Carbon Cycle, and Modeling.
	Rong Fu Terrestrial biosphere-atmosphere interaction and its role in climate Distributions and transport of water vapor and chemical tracers in the troposphere and stratosphere Convection, cloud and precipitation processes Atmosphere, ocean and land interaction Satellite remote sensing applications and retrievals
	Charles S Jackson global warming, abrupt climate change, sea level rise, ocean mixing, Bayesian Inference, inverse modeling, simulation, climate projections, uncertainty quantification
	Joe Levy Permafrost, Antarctica, Planetary geology, Mars, Geomorphology, Remote Sensing, GIS
	Yuko M Okumura Climate dynamics, climate variability and change, large-scale ocean-atmosphere interactions, atmospheric teleconnections, paleoclimate and thermohaline circulation
	Bridget R Scanlon Evaluation of the impact of climate variability and land use change on groundwater recharge, application of numerical models for simulating variably saturated flow and transport, controls on nitrate contamination in aquifers
	Robert B Scott Mesoscale to large scale geophysical fluid dynamics, ocean dynamics, climate dynamics, internal waves and microscale turbulence, stochastic climate models
	Zong-Liang Yang Dr. Yang's primary research interest is to understand the exchanges of momentum, radiation, heat, water, carbon dioxide, and other materials between the atmosphere and the Earth surface spanning from small (short) to very large (long) scales. This includes analysis of in-situ and remotely-sensed data for the Earth's surface, and modeling studies of weather, climate and hydrology at local, regional and global scales.

Postdoctoral Researchers

	Jung Hyo Chae
	Julien Cretat
	Cedric H David
	Dinali N Fernando Drought diagnostics, seasonal climate forecasting, tropical and sub-tropical climate variability, climate impacts assessment, climate change attribution, societal applications of climate research, statistical climatology, remote sensing, GIS.
	Mingxing Li
	Krista M Soderlund Astrobiology, Cryosphere, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Magnetohydrodynamics, Planetary Science

Research Staff

	Judson W Partin Paleoclimatology, Stable and Radiogenic Isotope Geochemistry
	Edward "Ned" K Vizy climate dynamics, atmospheric dynamics, global climate change, paleoclimate, extreme weather events, climate system modeling, hurricanes, paleoclimate
	Jiangfeng Wei

Graduate Students

	Xitian Cai Surface hydrology, land surface modeling, nitrogen modeling
	Sudip Chakraborty I use A-Train as well as ISCCP geostationary satellite data to unfold the mystery behind the convective transport of aerosols and the influence of those transported aerosols on those clouds. I use the software IDL to analyse the data. My primary research interests are: - Transport of Pollutants from the Lower Troposphere to Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere. - Physical and Dynamic Structure of Deep Convection - Analysis of Satellite data (NASA A-Train, ISCCP)
	Gail Gutowski I am interested in better understanding uncertainty in climate predictions in order to reduce that uncertainty. My research explores the intersection of data and modeling efforts, in order to evaluate how uncertain models make use of uncertain data. My current projects focus on the contribution of ice sheets (Greenland and Antarctica) to rising sea level. I have been using the Community Earth System Model to evaluate the evolution of the Greenland ice sheet from pre-industrial ...
	Qinjian Jin
	Yonghwan Kwon
	Peirong Lin
	Michael T O'connor I am studying hydrology and biogeochemistry, with an emphasis on wet systems. My thesis investigates a water and nitrogen balance within the islands of the Wax Lake Delta in southern Louisiana. I am advised by Dr. Kevan Moffett.
	Sagar P Parajuli Alternative energy, sustainable development, water resources, environment, climate
	Tong Ren Satellite remote sensing of atmosphere. Clouds and aerosols.
	Kaustubh Thirumalai My current research involves the reconstruction of paleoceanographic parameters such as sea-surface temperature and salinity over the Holocene utilizing planktic foraminifera in marine sediment cores. Comprehensive observations of climatic fluctuations (temperature, salinity, precipitation etc.) in the ocean and atmosphere have only been measured (with varying degrees of quality) for the last ~150 years, a mere geological instant. In order to understand the variability of climate over large timescales and different forcings, the aid of natural recorders (...
	Corinne Wong I use geochemical and isotopic approaches to delineate the sources and processes that influence the quality of present surface and groundwater resources and improve our understanding of the natural variability of past climate. My ongoing research uses observations and modeling of surface and groundwater geochemical compositions to quantify controls on water quality and speleothem (cave mineral deposits) proxies to reconstruct Holocene climate dynamics.
	Ze Yang Drought Indicator, Extreme Events Detection
	Lei Yin My research centers on recognizing the basic physical processes and dynamics contributing to climate variability and change on all time scales, understanding the relative importance of natural variability and anthropogenic forcing, and revealing the potential influence of air-land interactions behind the hydrological cycle. Currently, we focus our realization on South America, the south-central US and the Congo basin. Earth system modeling and water isotope technics are employed to facilitate our physical understanding and striking scientific ...
	Gang Zhang Climate Dynamics and Modeling
	Kai Zhang Global climate change, water vapor transportation, air-land interactions.

Center for Integrated Earth System Science The Center for Integrated Earth System Science (CIESS) is a cooperative effort between the Jackson School of Geosciences and the Cockrell School of Engineering. The center fosters collaborative study of Earth as a coupled system with focus on land, atmosphere, water, environment, and society.

Center for International Energy & Environmental Policy In 2005, the University of Texas at Austin chartered the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy (CIEEP), to join the scientific and engineering capabilities of the University's Jackson School of Geosciences and the College of Engineering with the LBJ School of Public Affairs. The University's first center dedicated to energy and environmental policy, CIEEP will seek to inform the policy-making process with the best scientific and engineering expertise.

Gulf Coast Carbon Center The Gulf Coast Carbon Center (GCCC) seeks to apply its technical and educational resources to implement geologic storage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide on an aggressive time scale with a focus in a region where large-scale reduction of atmospheric releases is needed and short term action is possible.

Land, Environment & Atmospheric Dynamics The LEAD group consists of graduate research assistants, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists and visiting scholars. We view the earth system in a holistic way, linking the atmosphere, ocean, biosphere, cryosphere, and solid earth as an integrated system. We use powerful methodologies such as satellite remote sensing and supercomputing simulations which are now profoundly changing research in earth system sciences. We place a strong emphasis on the societal impact of the research in earth system sciences.

Latin American Forum on Energy & the Environment This forum is a unique program that addresses a critical need to bring together government and industry decision makers, scholars and scientists, to foster dialogue around energy and environmental issues. The friendships and partnerships being formed by participants will, if properly maintained, impact our future ability to educate students, transfer knowledge, and make a difference for our hemisphere.

Remote Sensing of Earth and Planetary Surface and Environment Program This program will bring visibility to satellite remote sensing research at JSG among funding agencies and peers, and attract students with strong physics and engineering background and interests in using satellite remote sensing technology to study earth-atmosphere processes.

Affiliated UT Programs & Centers

Center for Space Research The University of Texas at Austin, Center for Space Research was established in 1981 under the direction of Dr. Byron D. Tapley. The mission of the Center is to conduct research in orbit determination, space geodesy, the Earth and its environment, exploration of the solar system, as well as expanding the scientific applications of space systems data.

Environmental Science Institute The Environmental Science Institute is a multi-disciplinary institute for basic scientific research in environmental studies founded by The University of Texas at Austin. The Institute serves as a focal point on campus for a wide scope of interdisciplinary research and teaching involving the complex interactions of the biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere in the Earth system, as well as the human dimensions of these interactions.

Texas Advanced Computing Center The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin is one of the leading centers of computational excellence in the United States. Located on the J.J. Pickle Research Campus, the center's mission is to enable discoveries that advance science and society through the application of advanced computing technologies.

UT Austin Energy Institute The Energy Institute has been established at the University of Texas at Austin to provide the State of Texas and the Nation guidance for sustainable energy security through the pursuit of research and education programs - good policy based on good science. The Institute will determine the areas of research and instruction in consultation with an Institute Advisory Board, faculty and staff at the University of Texas at Austin, the private energy sector, public utilities, non-governmental organizations, and the general public. The economic future of the State of Texas, and our Nation, depends upon the viability of sustainable energy resources. The mission of the Energy Institute is to provide the transformational changes through research and instruction that are required for this State's and Nation's sustainable energy security.